Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) is a clear polymer developed as a glass substitute. It is commonly referred to as acrylic glass or acrylic and marketed under trademarks such as: Plexiglas™, Perspex™, Acrylite™, Acrylplast™ and Lucite™. PMMA has several advantages over silicon glass. Its density is less than half of its silicon counterpart. PMMA does not shatter. It can be formed at relatively low temperatures. These and other qualities have led engineers to adapt PMMA to other purposes beyond glass replacement. Nevertheless, PMMA is still commonly used for its original purpose, it is found in large windows, aquariums, and vehicle rear lights. However, it is also found in places that glass would never be considered a suitable material. For example it is used as a bone replacement, dentures, and paint coating.
Some physical properties of PMMA are undesirable for a given application. In theses circumstances a coating is applied to mask the undesirable property. For example, PMMA is hydrophobic, when used as an intraocular lens it must be coated to make the surface hydrophilic. Also, PMMA tends to carry a static charge, in some circumstances the charge can build to the point of fracture. DuPont's Zelek-NK™ antistatic coating was developed to counter this tendency.
The ubiquitous use of PMMA in industry makes it a prime material candidate for a variety of applications where the PMMA comprises some or all of a surface. One of the drawbacks to using PMMA as surface is that materials that bind to PMMA are specific and lack flexibility as binding agents. So for example where a new coating for PMMA is desired, a new search for a PMMA binding molecule with the desired property must be conducted. The resulting search is costly in both time and resources and not guaranteed to be successful. A system that is flexible and can be easily tailored for a variety of materials to be bound to PMMA is needed. The use of peptides as linkers or binders to PMMA offers some potential in this regard.
Peptides having a binding affinity to polymer and plastic surfaces are known. For example, Adey et al., (Gene 156:27-31 (1995)) describe peptides that bind to polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride surfaces. Additionally, peptides that bind to polyurethane (Murray et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0098524), polyethylene terephthalate (O'Brien et al., copending and commonly owned U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0054752), and polystyrene, polyurethane, polycarbonate, and nylon (Grinstaff et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0185870) have been reported. However, the use of such peptides to target PMMA surfaces has not been described.
There remains a need therefore for a peptide based reagent that binds PMMA that offers flexibility in bring a wide variety of materials to the PMMA surface with minimum investment in redesign. Applicants have solved the stated problem by providing peptide reagents comprising PMMA binding peptides (PmBP). The PMMA binding peptides of the invention may be modified with other functional or binding peptides allowing for the delivery of benefit agents to the PMMA surface or for the use of the reagents to adhere PMMA containing surfaces.